The use of pictographic symbols to represent words or concepts is synonymous with written history. This century has witnessed an increased use of symbols to represent information specific to a particular discipline, such as science, commerce, and travel. These symbols are particularly useful in the communication of information in an international context. Large collections of icons for the communication of information have been developed by persons such as Otto Neurath with his ISOTYPE, which originated in Vienna, Austria, in 1930, and Katsumie Masaure, with her icon compilation for the 1960 Tokyo Olympics. These icon collections have not been used in the context of a language system which permits them to be used as sentence components.
In the recent past, some efforts have been made to create a symbolic language system. For example, Charles K. Bliss developed "Sementography," an abstract symbolic language, which uses highly abstract symbols to replace words. Sementography is limited, however, in that it does not provide a visual depiction of grammatical structure.
Recognizing the value of the use of graphic illustrations in the teaching of a second language, literacy advocates have begun using them in a variety of multi-sensory teaching systems. For example, Davidson's "English Express" is a multi-media educational package that uses such illustrations which are contained in a photo dictionary on videodisc.
Moreover, the development of computer systems and software that support multi-sensory teaching methods has enabled educators to implement such graphical teaching methods more effectively than they previously could. The use of computers to combine pictorial representations with auditory responses has been widespread. Products such as the "Creative Learning" teaching system use a personal computer to pair certain words with graphic illustrations and auditory voice responses. Another system, Future Trend Software's E-Z LANGUAGE teaching system, also pairs selected words with graphic illustrations to facilitate the learning of a second language.
All of the above-mentioned systems, however, have significant limitations. First, none of these systems rely on icon strings alone (without added text) to convey their lessons. Instead of using icons, these systems use photographs or graphic illustrations in their lessons. Because of their reliance on these media, these systems necessarily require more memory (many use CD-ROM), and often require the use of more sophisticated computers. Second, none of these systems use icons to represent all parts of speech. Instead, to the extent these systems rely on graphic illustrations, they use them only for easily visualized objects or actions, and do not use them to represent tense, number or other grammatical aspects. Third, none of these systems have a one-to-one correspondence between a word in the language to be learned and the pictorial representation of that word. It is only with such correspondence that syntax, including word order, can be taught. Fourth, none of these systems inextricably link an icon to a specific text that is typed in by the system's user. Rather, many of these systems use text that is not linked to a specific icon, but is used instead to fill in the sentence gaps that are not represented by an icon. Fifth, the inability of these systems to represent each word with an illustration also prevents them from linking voiced translations solely to such illustrations. Instead, many of these systems use a voiced translation to fill in the gaps in the sentence that are not represented by an illustration. None of these systems are therefore able to fuse, from the user's perspective, the text, icon and voiced translation into a single entity, or icon block. Finally, none of these systems use graphic illustrations to demonstrate grammatical structure and word order for the language being learned. The present invention seeks to overcome these infirmities.